‘It wrecked my world': Mother of North Texas man killed in 2016 hit-and-run crash seeks answers

November marks seven years since a deadly hit-and-run crash claimed the life of a Collin County father.

His family’s pain, the victim’s mother says, has been compounded by unanswered questions in the still-unsolved case.

A small white poster asking for ‘any info’ still stands along 14^th Street in far Southeast Plano.

It is a grieving mother’s handmade plea for help. 

“I want answers. We need answers,” said Babett Shaffer of Wylie.

Shaffer spoke with NBC 5 about her son’s death on November 6, 2016.

“It wrecked my world,” she said through tears.

Sachse police responded to the 4100 Block of Mitchell Court, where they found Manley Gosselin, a 25-year-old father of two, dead in the street.

“The time was 3 a.m., so there wasn’t much activity on the street at that time,” said Sachse PD Assistant Chief of Police Steven Baxter.

The investigation concluded Gosselin was the victim of a hit-and-run crash.

Despite help from several agencies, including the Collin County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Texas Sheriff’s Association Cold Case Unit, Baxter says the case remains unsolved.

To this day, Sachse police have no description of the suspect or vehicle involved in the fatal crash.

“In the past several years, there have been leads that have popped up, and we’ve worked with the Texas Rangers,” said Baxter. “We’ve exhausted [tips]. We’ve run it to the very end.”

Gosselin’s autopsy, he says, determined the victim died of blunt force trauma, and his death was ruled an accident.

The victim’s mother argues the injuries found in the autopsy do not add up when considering he was killed on or near a cul-de-sac.

“His injuries were more than one car running him over,” argues Shaffer. “I mean, unless it was a dump truck that ran him over. [His injuries] were very extensive.”

Shaffer’s public placard reads: Murdered in Sachse, “because I believe there was more that happened before he was run over.”

She points to differing stories among his group of friends.

Still, police say years of investigation, which remains open but inactive, has not led to any other conclusion.

“It is apparent that he walked out in front of a car or something happened in front of a car,” said Baxter. “I’m not so sure that it was an intentional thing but more of an accident.”  

Baxter says they are determined to solve the case where the driver faces criminally negligent homicide.

“We want to solve every case, and we want to do it with great ethical standards, and we’ve done that thoroughly and unfortunately we don’t have the leads to continue on,” he said. “But she [victim's mom] can be assured that if anything develops, if we get anything any information from the public that we will follow it to the fullest.”

Shaffer paid a few hundred dollars for the posterboards following her son’s death and placed them across Wylie and Sachse until she says she was forced to remove them from public properties.

Desperate for closure, this mother, who was willing to share her phone number, has also been holding on to something else.

“I’m so out there. I’ve had his phone on all this time. I’ve been paying his phone bill all these years,” she said.

When asked why, Shaffer stopped to think about it. “I don’t know,” she said, looking outside. “Maybe looking for answers too.”

Shaffer says she has experienced every stage of grief and is thankful for her family’s support.

She wants the public to know this about her son.

“He was an awesome, loving guy,” she said. “He had many friends. He was a young dad but he was a really good dad.”

Sachse police believe the case is solvable. Baxter encourages anyone with information to call SPD at 972-495-2005.

“I would just hope that if anyone knows anything that they would come forward,” said Shaffer.